IMPS, debit cards drive digital payments to 75.6 million transactions in August

Industry observers say digital payments are also directly linked to the consumption patterns of customers and there is a seasonality involved in the transaction numbers.Pratik Bhakta | ET Bureau | October 11, 2017, 09:03 IST

According to transaction data released by the Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday, IMPS (immediate payment service) — which includes UPI (unified payments interface) and BHIM (Bharat interface for money) — rose majorly to reach 75.6 million transactions in August against 69 million in July and 65.8 million in June.

While bank-to-bank transfers showed a healthy growth, general card swipes at ATMs and PoS terminals together reached almost 1.1billion in August against 1.07 billion in July. A major chunk of these payments were from debit card swipes at PoS terminals.

As bank account-based digital payments grew consistently, there was a slight fall in transactions taking place through mobile wallets. The data revealed a 4.2% fall in mobile wallet payments volume to 225.4 million from 235.4 million in July. In June, the volume was at 221.6 million.

Industry observers say digital payments are also directly linked to the consumption patterns of customers and there is a seasonality involved in the transaction numbers.

They said August showed greater transaction numbers mainly because of Ganesh Chaturthi, Raksha Bandhan and special discounts run by merchants for Independence Day. They hope the volumes go up further fueled by the entire festive months of September and October.

Besides the transaction volumes, the RBI data also showed the steady growth of debit cards in circulation in the country. Across June to August, the volumes rose from 793 million to 810 million, while credit cards hovered around 32 million. This was followed by a consistent growth of PoS terminals to almost 2.9 million in August from 2.8 million in July. The number of PoS terminals saw a sudden jump post demonetisation, when it doubled in three months to 2.5 million from 1.5 million before November.